PORTLAND, Ore. – Receiving the distinguished honor of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference SAAC Faculty Mentor Award for 2023-24 was Central Washington University’s
Matthew Martinson, announced by the conference office on Friday.
The English professor has dedicated countless hours of his professional and personal life to directly mentoring students, and was selected by the conference’s SAAC as this year’s award winner. “Teaching at CWU has been one of the greatest joys of my life,” said Martinson. “Working with CWU student-athletes has only increased that joy. They consistently bring positivity, enthusiasm, and a huge work ethic to the classroom and to their teams. I am always grateful to have them in class, excited to cheer them on at their matches, and am honored to be able to help them continually succeed."
"I am so excited for Matt to be honored in this capacity," said
Lily Newberry, a senior on the CWU women's soccer team. "He is truly a professor that honors and appreciates students as a whole person - athletics included. He is very invested in his students' development as students and people. The pool of nominees was a very strong group so the decision wasn't easy but I am thrilled for Matt and so blessed to have had him be a part of my undergraduate experience at Central Washington."
From the CWU SAAC Nomination: “Matt is the lead English professor in the Douglas Honors College but teaches a
multitude of other courses as well. Matt was decided to be the nominee because of his dedication to the students, athletes, and young adults that he encounters each day. He works deliberately to make personal connections and relate to his students rather than just seeing them as the people receiving information and paying his salary. He truly cares about the whole person. Because of this understanding and intentional desire to connect and relate to his students, many student-athletes of SAAC discussed his willingness and even eagerness to write letters of recommendation for students applying to big opportunities like graduate school, jobs, and positions like graduate assistantships. He desires to see his students succeed beyond his own classroom. He is also a very busy individual as he has a wife and two daughters but will deliberately make time to meet with students in one-on-ones and attend games to support athletes. Matt is also the type of professor to consider students from their whole perspective. For example, when one of our athletes tore her ACL he recognized the mental battle this injury poses and checked in on her frequently. He also pointed out the strengths she will gain from this injury in order to encourage her to keep striving.”
Martinson was born and raised in Washington state. He has earned degrees at four different schools in the state, focusing on literature and religion, though he is also fascinated by art and history. He teaches a wide variety of courses for the DHC, where he is also the writing curriculum coordinator. Martinson is the second CWU professor to win the award since its inception in 2013-14, with the other being CWU’s Nick Zentner in 2021-22.
Presented annually by the GNAC SAAC, the Faculty Mentor Award honors faculty members at member institutions that demonstrate exemplary support to student-athletes both on and off the field of competition while representing the NCAA Division II core values of learning, passion, service, resourcefulness, sportsmanship and balance. Award recipients should have a strong commitment to preparing student-athletes to excel in their endeavors after their athletic careers have ended.
Past recipients of the GNAC SAAC Faculty Mentor Award include Laura Reid and Dr. Peter Ruben of Simon Fraser University, Amy Cooper of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kevin Bartlett of Seattle Pacific University, Emily Vela-Haynes of Western Oregon University, Dr. Scott Harris and Dr. Alex Shafer of Montana State University Billings, Bill Rapp of Northwest Nazarene, Dr. T.H. “Butch” Kamena of Western Washington University and Nick Zentner of Central Washington University.